Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Originally i wanted to get out of provo and go somewhere (portland, idaho, vegas, southern utah), but everything seemed to fall through. I was asked to teach on sunday, so i gave up and decided to stay in provo. We had a blast. Here is a day-by-day:

FRIDAY

we had tried to get a camping trip together, but everything kept falling through and it was cold and rainy. Bummer. Hayley and I swung by the Liberty Square office on our way back from class because its hot dog friday every friday. We got there about 45 minutes after it ended and we asked if there were leftovers or anything. The lady hands us a bag of 60 cooked hotdogs and a huge bag of buns. Holy smokes! Needless to say, i've eaten a lot of hot dogs this weekend. (i ate hot dogs 1-3)

We ended up playing ultimate frisbee with a light-up frisbee for like 3 hours that night. It was a BLAST! We decided to have a campout despite the weather, so we went to a spot that we knew would be warm and dry: mitch's apartment. We set up a blanket fort and all fell asleep super quick because of the aforementioned ultimate game. Solid.

SATURDAY

We woke up late-ish. We ate hot dogs (4&5) for lunch and watched the Manchester United vs. Barcelona game (its for the UEFA cup) ((its soccer)). It was a really good game, so that was fun. After that, hayley and I went on a hike/picnic, but of course it started raining. we got back and went to the RB to play soccer in the dark with a group of people. We had been playing for a while and were having a blast, and then we saw a man walking across the field with a flashlight. Busted! it was a security guard who gave us a verbal warning and had us leave. As we were leaving, 2 police officers show up to give us a second verbal warning. They were hilarious! they were cracking jokes and just having a really fun time with us. My favorite line: we are going to take your names down for 2 reasons. 1- so that we can vouch for you and say you guys didnt do any damage here, and 2- so that it looks like we're doing our job. Win-Win, right? the best part of the whole thing is that we are going to make the famed BYU police beat this wednesday!!!! hooray!!

Afterwards, we went and ate hotdogs and watched some comedy. (hot dogs 6-9)

SUNDAY:

Church, day of rest, no hotdogs, but i did make skyline chili. YUM.

MONDAY:

woke up and we went and played kickball (sport #1 of the day) over at the Marriott center like we did when we camped there. we also had a wiffle ball bat and a tennis ball (sport #2) Of course, it started raining on us. bummer. we also lost the ball and poor mitch went crawling through some thorny bushes looking for it. (un)fortunately, we found it in this other place that wasnt the thorny bushes we were crawling through. We then had J-DAWGs which are delicious. (hot dogs 10&11)

We decided, since it was raining, to play Puerto Rico (my favorite board game). Of course, it gets sunny right when we start playing the game. We finished and decided we needed to barbque. Hayley and i threw a baseball for a bit (sport #3), then we all went to the park to have our Barbque. I didnt want anything, but felt the need to barbque something, so hayley and i brought corn on the cob. ha. We threw a frisbee (#4) kicked a soccer ball (#5) threw a football (#6). The park was kinda full, so we decided to come back and play ultimate in the dark again (#7). It was tons of fun!

And thus concluded the weekend. different sports played: 7. Total sporting activities: 11. Total hot dogs eaten: 11. Sports and hot dogs balance each other out pretty well.

Hay and I went to the Nickel City arcade and WORKED IT! We won a ton of tickets, and picked up some sweet prizes: A green inflated ball, a beach ball with soccer ball print, and some candy. It was well worth it-- now I have something i can kick around in the apartment that isnt a real soccer ball that can break things!

Highlight of the night was when i walked up to this machine and put the first ball in the 250 hole. Hayley didnt believe me at first, so i was sure to announce that I PUT IT IN THE 250! several times to drive the point home.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Last saturday, Eric and I went skiing at Snowbird. It was an INCREDIBLE day. It snowed a good 8 inches on top of the powder that was already up there. Most of the time, we were up to our knees, and in some spots, it was up to our waist. Who would have thought that a spring skiing day would have been so nice? We skied well and pushed ourselves a lot. At the end of the day, we were exhausted and had a lot of good memories. Mother nature decided to help us out with the memories a bit...

...with a a massive sunburn!

It blistered up and is peeling and stuff. Oh, and I look like a dork with the burn line. Some people ask me if I went skiing this weekend, and I respond: "How'd you know?"

Lesson Learned: Wear sunscreen in the mountains, even when it is cloudy and snowing.

Monday, May 2, 2011

On our way down to Zion, I was talking on the phone to my 5-year-old nephew, Jacob. We were talking about our camping trip and what we were going to be doing. He then asked 'Know what you should name your tent?' "What?" The words that fell out of his mouth changed my life.

What?

Vean?

yeah!

I then announced to the car that our tent's name for the trip would be "Vean." Putzer liked that, but decided that if we called it Vean, it'd have to be Doctor Vean. It was also decided by the car that not only would the tent be called Dr. Vean, but every single thing we had would be referred to as "Dr. Vean"

"Hey! Jared! Can you pass me that Dr. Vean?"

"Which one?"

"That one--next to the Dr. Vean"

"Oh gotcha"

Here is a picture of Putzer hitting a Doctor Vean with a Doctor Vean:

And here are the Jensen boys with their Doctor Vean's on their backsWe didn't limit ourselves to just doctor vean. We referred to our mother as "Queen Vean," Dani as "Mrs. Vean," and Putzer and I's girlfriends as "Miss Vean." We also had Commander vean, Master Vean, the Vean Family, Count Vean, Sir Vean, and so on. We also had a surprise vean, as pictured below:

DARTH VEAN!

This bird was terrifyingly large. It wasnt afraid of us at all. It sat their, veaning it up, and waiting for some food. Another car pulled up while we were at the scenic overlook and they were too afraid to get out of the car! ha.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Last weekend, the Jensen Men took a trip to Zion to go backpacking. We headed out friday morning and to got Zions National Park early that afternoon. We hiked on in through some awesome canyons and forests. We saw some pretty amazing cliffs and waterfalls. We set up camp near a spring about 5 miles in. We got the tents up just before the sun set, so we were good to go! After a scrumptious dinner of Chicken a la King and Chicken and Noodles, we got in the tents and played some rook. It was pretty cozy cramming the 4 of us in a 2 man tent to play rook before bed. All in all, a good day.

Saturday we got up and threw a baseball around for a bit after breakfast. We then started a hike to Cable Mountain, a 3 mile hike from our site. As we got the the trail from our campsite, we found a guy standing there wanting to talk to us. His name was shaun, and he was in the area working and decided to hike through the park that day. He didn't want to be all alone, so we invited him to come along with us. He was a funny guy and chattered with us the whole time. The hike wasn't bad, and the view was breathtaking. We were standing on a 2000 foot cliff! It was spectacular.

That afternoon we got back to the campsite and threw a baseball again (I think we are the first people ever to take baseball gloves backpacking). We also dug a pretty sweet latrine using big rocks for a seat and even a stick as a toilet paper holder! Cool stuff.

We had a nice dinner that consisted of mashed potatoes, sweet and sour pork, and teriyaki chicken. Yum! We played some more rook, then went to bed.

Easter morning we had to stay in our tents for while because it was raining. Bummer. The rain and terrain didn't hinder the easter bunny from showing up, though. He came in all his glory, delivering easter treats to us and easter eggs around our campsite that we had to go and find. Go Easter Bunny!

After breakfast, we had a little morning devotional. It was really good. Dad had hidden some hymns in the topographical maps he gave to each of us at the beginning of the trip, so we sang songs and talked about the importance that the Savior has had in our lives. It was a great way to spend easter morning: a dad and three brothers in a gorgeous part of the country.

We decided to roll out and pack up camp. It had rained both nights and the thought of getting up at 7 in the cold rain to pack up our stuff monday morning to hike out did not seem appealing at all. We packed up and left and drove over to bryce canyon. That place is way cool! We drove and saw some of the scenery on sunday.

Monday morning Dad, Jared, and I woke up and went on a short hike through Queen's Gate (putzer decided to sleep in). It was really cool do go down through the little "pillasters" (as dad called them) and walk through the canyon. Its pretty spectacular. After that, we made the drive back up to Provo.

It was a great weekend, and we made a ton of fun memories. Dad proved he still has his knack for the outdoors! Even at 60, the man still can get it done. Happy Birthday, Pops!

For anyone who missed it, a couple of months ago we put together this video to announce the man-cation. We had to do a lot of electronic stuff to get it together with the three brothers being in different places. But here is the announcement: